As semiconductor devices decrease in size, each individual component within the semiconductor device should also be reduced in size or it risks becoming a bottleneck for the further reduction of the device as a whole. For example, as the size of transistors or active devices are reduced, the other parts of the semiconductor device, such as the dielectric layers and metallization layers that provide the interconnectivity for the active devices, should also see a reduction in size. Otherwise, the overall size of the device may remain the same.
However, reducing the dielectric and metallization layers presents its own set of problems. For example, as the metallization layers themselves are scaled down, any devices formed within the metallization layers, such as passive devices including capacitors, resistors, fuses, etc., would also be scaled down. However, scaling down these types of devices may modify their characteristics beyond a desired range of performance. As such, new methods of forming and using the metallization layers and devices within the metallization layers are desired in order to increase the miniaturization of these components.